Squash Festival

The circle IS unbroken. Our connection to the land and each other is solid. One more bountiful harvest shared and delighted in. Maybe we should consider this ritual our own "world renewal."

Spike and Nora provided this magnificent 2007 offering to the gods.

Marie and Jean Schaeffers were people we knew years ago. This is Marie's recipe for squash pie.

SQUASH PIE

1 heaping cup cooked squash

1 c sugar or 1/2 c of honey

2 beaten eggs

1/4 teaspoon of ginger

1 and 1/2 c warm milk or part cream

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 pinch salt

450 for 10 minutes

350 for 30 minutes

Life is so amazing sometimes. When I took the pinch of salt--instead of the usual measured amount ...I heard Marie whistling as clearly as if she was in the other room. We rented a little house from she and Jean when we moved into town from the mountains.

Her garden was just on the other side of the fence from mine. Often I would get to enjoy her lovely whistling, or lyrical soprano voice as we both worked our gardens.

Dried ginger root ground just before baking the pie may be the secret ingredient??

There is no lettuce better than fall grown lettuce. Our own broccoli and tomatoes went into the salad also.

Group energy planted these potatoes two months ago in Madelyn's garden. She harvested four and a half pounds and brought the bounty to share.

Spike provided not only the sacrificial squash he cooked too! The dressing spices were concocted by Nora. Apple crisp completed the menu. Els brought a squash soup that she added her homemade applesauce to. Share food with someone today. It is such a pleasant way to be grateful for what you have. We forgot to set a place for the hungry stranger. Mary's mother used to always do that around their Kentucky table. There were 11 children in that family.

Learning From The First Peoples

Smoking salmon allows it to be kept a long while without refrigeration.

"Pepper nuts," are the seeds of the laurel plant. They are gathered one season, stored for a year, and then roasted and eaten.

The Karuk, Hoopa, and Yurok Indians live from the coastal plain, inland to the high mountain region of northern California and southern Oregon. They make seasonal rounds to utilize fully all that the land offers. The land is their super market, hardware store, pharmacy, and church.

They fully understand the sustainablility concept. They never harvest ALL of any resource. For five days in August every year, the Klamath River is closed to all boaters. At this time, the Karuk Indians perform the World Renewal Ceremony. This group of people still believe they have a part in the future of their world.

These Chantrelles come from the Marble Mts. They are only of about medium size. The ones we get on the Winchuck are smaller than these usually. They have not started to "bloom" at river level yet.

Frank Lake is a Karuk Indian. He shared the seasonal foods people of our watersheds have collected and worked to sustain for generations. The Siskiyou Field Institute was the scene of a fall feast that included smoked salmon, venison, pepper nuts, chantrelle mushrooms, blue huckleberries and madrone berries.

An Apple a Day

Shan says the McIntosh was a well established tree when they came to live on the hill. That was in 1972. It has delivered the promise of the spring blossoms for many falls now. This year-- we too-- were some of the lucky harvesters. Thank you Shan and Dean.

Premier pie apple is this varieties' main claim to fame. How can you beat it for just plain eating? Wow! I do plan to use some for sauce and apple butter, and of course, there will be pies.

In our little orchard, my favorite tree is the Spartan. Reading about the history of the McIntosh, I was surprised to find that the Spartan is a cross between the McIntosh and the Newtown Pippin. I planted it to mark Russell's decision to join the Marines. It is a fine apple of crisp white flesh. It is so sweet---it stands alone as a desert.



Apples seem to be some of the hardiest of the orchard fruits planted. There is nothing quite so poignant as an abandoned old farm with ancient apples still trying to give what they can. Traveling with our long handled picker in the car at this time of the year, lets us connect to hands long gone back to the earth. I always wonder who the person was who planted the trees we find on our backcountry paths. Working the dirt is a universal and timeless pleasure I believe that will become more important in the not too distant future.

The Rains Have Started

This soup is my favorite at the moment! I used cilantro, instead of parsley, because that is what I had-- and added a squeeze of fresh lemon to my steaming bowl. The pasta just happened to be organic whole wheat...delicious, and healthy dinner. For salad, I cut up apples, pears, and took some of our stored grapes...............dressed the mix with plain yogurt, and grated whole nutmeg onto it all. Wish I had more left over for today's lunch!

Red lentils are some of the most beautiful objects......if you have not tried them.....go find some today. They really do have a bit of a different taste than the brown/green variety. Have to replenish my stock....used them all for this soup.

How Bout Them Apples?

Karen has an apple tree that has consistently produced the biggest apples that we know of. I thought it might be a Rome??? Some are not red red.....but more stripedy??

Save Seeds--They ARE the Future

"To cherish what remains of Earth and to foster its' renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival."

Wendel Berry


These milkweed seeds were collected here locally and will grow out to become more pasture for the declining Monarch butterfly.









The black capped chickadees have already harvested this sunflower seed. Plants that attract birds to the garden are some of the best "bug control" known to man.

Six companies world wide have a virtual monopoly on the seed bank of this planet. If that does not get your attention----------it needs to.

Monsanto says they OWN the DNA in certain wheat seed strains. You must not only buy seeds from them ..... but have a permit to plant them??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COLLECT........SAVE.................SHARE..................... GROW OUT ............................YOUR OWN SEEDS

vegetables......................flowers..........................trees...........................shrubs.......................vines

American Gothic

The only thing missing is the pitchfork. What is the greater gift..........the cucurbits or the friends bearing them? You know the answer. Squash Fest is now assured. Stay tuned for date.

Wild October Foraging

A day predicted to bring thunderstorms seemed an auspicious time to go have a look at the river. The drama of the changing sky was delightful. The rain came in segments interspersed with brilliant times of sunshine.

There were himalayan blackberries still solid and sweet at the lake. On Upper Deer Creek there were elderberries and milkweed seed pods. I collected about six.

The beaders among us have been known to use these myrtle nuts for necklaces and bracelets.

You can read, on the net, about how important to the monarch butterfly it is for us to plant these seeds for them. Go to.....www.butterflyencounter.com.

Just putting in the request "milkweed seed" will get you lots of information.

Earlier in the season I think Els has made elderberry lemonade?? out of the flowers.



The West Fork of the Illinois above OBrien is a totally different place than the East Fork at Takilma. There were azaleas blooming and the largest hoods of darlingtonia I have ever seen. There was a small white flower????blooming right in the running water of the fen. It looked like a small white marsh marigold. The river falls off the steep mountain. The rocks in the watercourse are boulders. The ash and willows have yet to hit the peak of their color as the river levels out and slows down in this section.

I swear these looked like people to me --- all gathered up and having a great time visiting.

Ah, certainly frosting on the cake of a fine day............smelling the fragrance of azalea one more time this season.

My favorite color might be what this azalea is sporting just now.

The tops of the mountains south of town had the first dusting of snow. We need to get busy.....all those apple trees with red and yellow bounty still hanging on them..............................

A Rainy Sunday

The garden is still yielding food for body and soul. The swiss chard and pak choy went into a cheese tortellini soup. Some time back, Spike and Nora gave us a bag of dried portabello mushrooms. They were a real gourmet addition to the soup. The fragrance of the nasturtiums is as welcome as their vivid, exuberant colors.

La Leche League

This old connection has taken on a new meaning for Madelyn. She has found a very local source for milk. Sustainability has many "faces."

Neptune Smiles On Us

The King of the Sea once again blessed us with the second meal from the black rock fish of last week. Els referred to her Julia Child manual, and made this luscious chowder. The rich yellow color came from curry powder. I was able to go cut fresh parsley out the back door. Is there anything as wonderful as fresh herbs to spike good food? I had chives for the coleslaw and basil still for the tomatoes and cukes.

Imagine, corn from Kerby and it is almost October! The garden is still burgeoning with tomatoes. There are still some lemon cukes, but my favorite variety is done now. The cabbage is a welcome change from the lettuce we have been feasting on. Here is a simple slaw recipe from the net.

Sweet and Sour Coleslaw

Half head of red or green cabbage---about 1 and 1/2 #

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

1/2 c sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

ground black pepper

It almost seemed a shame to harvest this beautiful savoy cabbage. The next crop of red cabbage and late flat Dutch is now in the ground. As the autumnal equinox is now behind us, I have to realize the days of cold and dark need to come now.

Read the Label.....

Our Locavore quest was certainly in question on this day! Just 99 cents for a mix of peppercorns(including PINK ones) in a grinder...real fresh pepper! Imagine our surprise when Robert read the label on the roasted garlic and sea salt grinder.............packed in France. FRANCE????? Oh my......... Instead of going to the garden for Roma tomatoes and garlic, I had opened a jar of store salsa to add to our roasted pepper and Hugo fresh egg and our own red potato frittata special Sunday breakfast. The salsa jar label told us it came from Rochester New York. hhhmmm.....

Well, as we eat what we can grow and find within 100 miles, we have fewer and fewer labels to read. Robert is doing his part to keep us eating ethically.

Dinner........

This Black Fish was approximately only four hours from swimming in the ocean, when it reached our table. AND....we had no license, no boat, and did not need to get sea sick! Els is our designated "fisherwoman." She did not hesitate to reach right in and haul our our "catch."

Going over the Coast Range, and to the ocean, is like leaving one planet and arriving on another. The geology and geography certainly produce a very different flora and fauna from the Siskiyous where we live.

Seems like I remember reading years ago, that the art and mythology of the coast tribes was highly developed because the land and waters provided bountiful resources to feed, clothe, and house, the people.

With the fish we reaped, and blackberries we picked we are right on track. I was too late I guess for salmon berries. Els had chantrelle mushrooms from Florence on Thursday. Shirley says she picked a gallon of ripe huckleberries near South Slough this week.

Stopping at the fish cleaning station at the port just to see what sorts of fish live in these waters, ended up getting us a lovely dinner. I mentioned that I would sure like to have the scraps going into the throw away bucket for my garden. The fisherman was glad to see us take them. We gave him a bunch of fresh tomatoes.

We were able to get a very plentiful meal from more careful trimming and still have lots to cook down for fish stock. Els has a way of poaching the "catch" of the day in wine................ooooohhh so good. I had brought over rice and salad makin's. We had Asian pears and Satsuma plums for desert. Except for the rice......we were righteous locavores! Nothing traveled more than 100 miles to our table.

The Sunbeam Man......

Oh why did I not snap a picture of him?? An auto parts city boy who now has Murphy acreage and lots of trees, is magnanimous of spirit. He drags 4 inch irrigation pipe around the fields for Applegate River water, has a well for house use, and a year round spring up on the hill. His 1862 water rights guarantee that as long as there is water to be had.........his fields and orchards will be green. The "Free Apples and Pears" sign on the road offers all the bounty he and the deer, and wild turkeys, cannot consume-- to anyone passing by. Thank you Bill.

We were able to pass plums and tomatoes to his outstretched hands. He was seen to be heading for the house, grinning and talking bacon, bacon, bacon.

When he is not "farming," he is busy working on making two pristine Sunbeam cars out of the five that he has now.

Tomato Day

A bonanza in the "Love Apple" patch, has me searching the net for recipes beyond salsa.....512 varieties on one site alone. The nick name came from the French....."pomme d'amour." Tomatoes are really botanically speaking....a fruit. There are over 10,000 kinds of tomatoes. Tomatoes are more popular than apples or bannanas!